‘Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays is a special seasonal feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which some of my favourite authors help me to celebrate the spirit of the season and spread a little holiday cheer. So, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle in by the fireside as they answer the question: “What does the holiday season mean to you?”
About Dhonielle Clayton
Dhonielle Clayton is a New York Times Bestselling author of The Belles series, the coauthor of the Tiny Pretty Things series and the forthcoming The Rumor Game. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books, and co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent — and decidedly diverse — literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers. She’s an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief. CAKE Literary titles – The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi, Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble and Love Sugar Magic: A Sprinkle of Spirits by Anna Meriano, The Trouble with Shooting Stars by Meg Cannistra, A Match Made In Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai, Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky by Kwame Mbalia, Symptoms of a Heartbreak by Sona Charaipotra, and more.
The holidays for me have always been my favorite time of year. Not because I am religious or celebrate any particular holiday, but as a kid, I loved that everything started to slow down and get quiet. There were lights everywhere, the threat of snow, and the overwhelming desire to be curled up inside. People were coming to town and my mother’s kitchen always smelled of something good — gingersnap cookies and roasted chicken. The sun went down early, rushing people home. Cable always played my favorite re-runs and cheesy holiday movies.
It was time to zone out. It was time to think. It was time to be quiet for a little while.
I am a person that loves to be aggressively cozy. I love fireplaces and hot cocoa (even drinking it in the summertime) and warm, fuzzy socks and big blankets and curling up with a book. As a kid, I would camp out under my grandmother’s dining room table with a stack of books and snacks and a blanket. My own little cave.
When it’s cold outside, the environment slows everyone down whether they want to or not and … I love this. I can finally come off my perpetual hamster wheel. The guilt of not working at top speed starts to dissipate. Even if I draft a hundred emails or write a thousand pages, no one is around to read them. The world at this time of year unplugs, forcing me to do so whether I want to or not. Everyone has their out of office signs up, reminding me, a workaholic, that I should also have those up. That it is time for rest, reflection, and recharge and to get back to the things I love.
So this holiday season, I’m committing myself to three things:
1. Turn It Off!
I’m trying to put a Gone Fishing sign in my email for at least three weeks. But the test will be if I can actually not check my own email. I may employ a website blocker for my email and websites that trigger my workaholic nature.
2. Feed The Brain!
I haven’t been able to binge a TV show since Seasons 1 and 2 of Outlander (Don’t judge me! Jaime Fraser for life!). I want to pick a few TV shows and get lost in story. The great thing is that as a writer, this is also feeding my resting creative muscle passively. I get to absorb story inspiration yet also not actively work.
I have a lengthy TBR list that I plan to dive right into. I can’t wait to immerse myself in other authors’ stories and not have to wrestle my own. Winter 2019 books that I’m diving into: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron, and the entire Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black.
3. Take Inventory and Find Peace!
I’m going to make a year-end-review of all the things I got done in 2019 and be proud of those things. I am going to not make a list of the things I didn’t get done, but rather focus on the ones I did. This abundance mindset will help me narrow in on my resolutions and goals for the next decade.
This winter season challenge yourself to come off the hamster wheel and go quiet. See what stories you can unfold from a little time away from the hustle and bustle.
Title The Everlasting Rose (Book 2 in The Belles series)
Author Dhonielle Clayton
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre Fantasy
Publication Date March 5th 2019 by Freeform
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository ● Barnes & Noble ● IndieBound
In this sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The Belles, Camellia Beaureguard, the former favorite Belle, must race against time to find the ailing Princess Charlotte, who has disappeared without a trace. The evil queen Sophia’s imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep Camille, her sister Edel, and her loyal guard, Rémy, from returning Charlotte to the palace and her rightful place as queen. With the help of an underground resistance movement called the Iron Ladies – a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely – and the backing of alternative newspaper the Spider’s Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections, and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and attempt to restore peace to Orléans. But enemies lurk in the most unexpected places, forcing Camille to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save her people.
